The purchase by SB Park Shelton LLC closed Friday with Farmington Hills-based Friedman Integrated Real Estate Solutions LLC brokering the deal, said John Gibbs, who heads up New York-based Sturgeon Bay real estate investment and development firm. Millennial Partners is a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company providing equity on the deal. It is run by Tal Seder and Derek Schneider.

The purchase price was not disclosed. Gibbs, son of Birmingham-based urban planner Robert Gibbs, said facade improvements are expected and that the capital expenditure budget is north of $100,000.

"We see this as a long-term hold and really just want to improve the building and work with the Historic (District) Commission to clean up the limestone, do some other storefront improvements and bring life back to the exterior," said Gibbs, who last year purchased a Midtown apartment portfolio consisting of 63 units across three buildings with more than $1 million in renovations planned.

The 264 condominiums above the retail space were not part of the deal, but it did include 70 parking spaces in an adjacent parking garage. The property was listed for sale a year ago by Friedman, who represented the previous owners, Michael Berger and Walter Cohen.

The Park Shelton redevelopment into condos was completed in 2004.

The building originally opened in 1926 as the Wardell Apartment Hotel and at times hosted celebrities including Bob Hope, George Burns and Gracie Allen.

Diego Rivera stayed there while he worked on his murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts next door.